AT 5am on the day she was due to begin a 36-hour journey back home to Australia from where she studies in the United States, Olivia Dillon found out she would have to spend 14 days in quarantine upon arrival in Sydney.
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She would miss the cut-off time for being able to self-isolate at home by about eight hours and be one of the first Aussies returning from overseas to be placed into the government's new form of quarantine - hotels.
After spending five hours on a bus due to the disorganised and roulette-style placement of guests in hotels, the 23-year-old landed in the IBIS at Darling Harbour.
A room on level four offered no chance of a view but Ms Dillon was OK with a double bed, bathroom, desk and bar fridge given the alternative could have been somewhere like Christmas Island.
But with her room key taken away and after only one meal the use of Uber Eats banned, the reality of spending a fortnight effectively locked in a room without fresh air began to sink in.
Although it was the food that arrived, meals which she rates a three out of 10, that caused most concern.
"It kind of feels like we've had all our rights and privileges taken away," she told the Newcastle Herald.
"It almost feels like we're being punished. But we obviously need to do it to slow the spread [of COVID-19]."
Ms Dillon, a former Lambton High School student who has studied nursing at Ohio University for the past four years after landing a diving scholarship, said people she encountered on her flight and bus ride seemed frustrated at not being able to isolate at home.
"Probably 99 per cent of us would have complied with the two weeks self-isolation," she said.
"So it's frustrating not being able to do it on our own terms.
"I completely understand why they're doing this, but I do think they rushed into it and the government might not have been prepared for the amount of people they were going to have to put up."
A consistent healthy eater, Ms Dillon said "you wouldn't buy" some of the meals being served.
Her concerns were slightly eased on Tuesday when her father, Newcastle Herald sports editor Robert Dillon, managed to drop off some groceries.
Although a wave and a smile from the footpath and a fourth-floor window was as close as the two got to seeing each other.
Ms Dillon, who is a couple of months off graduating, said she would spend most of her time studying until her room key is finally returned.